(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a command processing system and, more specifically, to a command processing system used under graphical user interface (GUI) circumstances.
In a computer system, to improve the operability thereof, there are provided some GUI circumstances. In a case where a process is executed under the GUI circumstances, an operation for selecting an object to which a command is to be applied and an operation for selecting a command representing the process to be executed must be performed. The above selecting operations are an important factor for the usability of the computer system. Thus, by simplifying the selecting operations regarding the commands representing processes to be executed, the operability of the computer system can be improved.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional command processing system used under the GUI circumstances, first, a user manipulates a pointing device, such as a mouse, so that, on a display screen, a cursor is placed on an icon corresponding to an object to which a process represented by a command is to be applied and the object is selected. A menu regarding the selected object is then displayed on the screen, and a command included in the menu is selected by use of the pointing device.
To delete a file from the system, a user performs, for example, the following operations.
FIG.1A shows a screen on which an object is selected, and FIG. 1B shows operations to display a pull-down menu on a display-screen. The pull-down menu is located at a predetermined position on the display-screen. FIG.1C shows operations to display a pop-up menu on a display-screen. The pop-up menu can be moved on the display-screen.
In a case using the pull-down menu, the operations are performed as follows.
(1) Manipulating the mouse, a cursor 31 is located on an icon of an object 31X (a file) to be deleted as shown in FIG.1A, and a mouse button is clicked.
(2) Manipulating the mouse, the cursor 31 is moved to a menu bar on which menu titles are indicated, as shown in FIG.1B.
(3) The cursor 31 is located on a menu title "FILE" and the mouse button is clicked, so that the pull-down menu "FILE MENU" is opened as shown in FIG.1B.
(4) Manipulating the mouse, the cursor 31 is moved to a "DELETE" command in the pull-down menu as shown in FIG.1B.
(5) The mouse button is clicked, so that the "DELETE" command is selected as shown in FIG.1B.
In a case using the pop-up menu, the operations are performed as follows.
(1) The mouse button is clicked in a state where the cursor 31 is located at the icon of the object 30X, so that the object 30X is selected.
(6) The mouse button is further clicked at this position, so that the pop-up menu is opened, as shown in FIG.1C. The pop-up menu includes, for example, all commands representing processes which can be performed.
(7) Manipulating the mouse, the cursor 31 is moved to the "DELETE" command in the pop-up menu, as shown in FIG.1C.
(8) The mouse button is clicked, so that the "DELETE" command is selected.
As has been described above, in the conventional command processing system:
the cursor 31 is moved to the object to which the process represented by the command is to be applied, PA1 the mouse button is clicked so that the object is selected, PA1 the cursor 31 is moved to the menu bar on which the main menu is indicated, PA1 the mouse button is clicked so that the pull-down menu or the pop-up menu is displayed, PA1 the cursor 31 is moved to a command, and PA1 the mouse button is clicked so that the command is selected. If there are a plurality of files to be deleted, the above operations are repeated for a number of files.
FIG.2 shows a procedure of the conventional command processing under the GUI circumstances.
Referring to FIG.2, an object to be processed is selected in step S51, and all commands, out of commands prepared in the system and which can be applied to the selected object, are displayed in step S52. A command representing a process to be executed is selected among from the displayed commands in step S53. After this, the process represented by the selected command is executed in step S54.
The above procedure of the command processing is performed every time a process represented by a command is executed.
In the conventional command processing system, when processes presented by a plurality of commands are continuously executed, operations for each command are repeated by a number of commands. In the operations for each command, to select the command, a large number of manipulations of the mouse must be performed, along with looking at the display-screen. The operation in which the cursor is moved by manipulating the mouse is harder for the user than simply a pushing operation of the mouse button.
In addition, even if there is only one command applied to an object, an operation in which a menu is opened to select the object is not omitted. As a result, the operations for selecting the command are prolix.